Spicy Rice Flakes Recipes

I realize I haven't posted any Indian dishes for a while. Last weekend, Daddy, my father-in-law, suggested we prepare poha, which is a flattened rice dish. Poha is a great breakfast item and is also delightful as a snack. I've prepared similar dishes such as chudva in the past.

You could fancy this up and make it more filling with frozen green peas, diced potatoes or cashew nuts. I haven't seen this rice dish in any Indian restaurant, so if you want a fairly unique culinary trip to India, give this simple and easy dish a try!

I was flipping through past recipes on PhamFatale and realized that while I published the picture, I didn’t share the recipe for poha chudva. The difference in this recipe from other chudva recipes is the addition of rich and creamy Brazil nuts. I deep-fried them with other nuts and mixed them with homemade-puffed rice called "poha". It's a great fusion South American and Indian rice trail mix flavored with many Indian spices.

I didn’t make the snack too spicy so the little ones could enjoy it too. We made several batches and packed them in cute Chinese takeout boxes for sharing.

Chudwa, sometimes called chevda, is for South Indians what trail-mix is for us. It's a blend of nuts, dried fruit, puffed rice and various typical Indian spices.

It's very easy to make, but like eggrolls, it's time-consuming. It's a big production. One of my sisters-in-law is in charge of assembling the ingredients. My mother-in-law is the one frying the puffed rice flakes. One other sister's job is to sprinkle the spices as soon as the ingredients are out of the oil. My job is to toss the whole thing and, last but not least, the other 2 younger sisters' job is to taste. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.